Abstract
The advances in digital technologies continue to play a critical role in shaping the future of academic libraries. The digital revolutions in broadband, mobile devices, social networking and cloud computing have led to a fundamental transformation of physical libraries into the digital domain. Conventionally library resources and services were delivered in a physical building. Now most libraries have maintained their virtual presence in addition to their physical asset. Almost all libraries have an appealing and elaborate website. A virtual library provides its users digital collections of all formats – e-books, e-journals, databases and multimedia. Besides, it embarks on digitisation of virtually all media – text, image, audio, video, multimedia – from its own special collections and scholarly or archival assets. This digital information is discoverable and accessible by remote users. A wide range of virtual services are also deployed for its users. For example, reference, learning support, information literacy, current awareness, exhibition and mobile services are all virtually available. Outreach and promotion are performed through social networking. This chapter provides an overview of different practices in this evolution, drawing from examples of overseas libraries as well as the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library.
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